Q: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE IN THE HEAVY VEHICLE TRANSPORT SUPPLY CHAIN?

A: EVERYONE!

A big legislative step in awareness and regulation of safety and compliance in Australia was the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNR) (originally a schedule to the HVNL Act 2012 (QLD)). The HVNL came into force on 10 February 2014. The ACT, NSW, SA, QLD, Tasmania and Victoria each passed a law adopting or duplicating the HVNL with some modifications and some differences (eg ACT is missing some sections). If you are in WA or NT the law still applies to you once you are driving in the jurisdictions which have the HVNL. The HVNL is administered by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) with administers the HVNL and 4 sets of regulations.

‘Everyone’ (in the heavy vehicle transport industry) needs to be aware of the recent legislative amendments relating to ‘Chain of Responsibility’ (CoR) which have just come into effect on 1 October 2018.

The heavy vehicle transport supply chain is an industry value chain with each link representing a primary activity. 165 000 businesses in that chain were consulted in relation to these recent amendments.

The Chain of Responsibility (CoR) is not a new policy concept in Australian transport legislation. The gist is that legal obligations are placed on parties in the transport supply chain.

The amendments place a primary duty clearly and transparently on each party (‘link’).

The primary duty is to minimize risk by doing all that is reasonably practical to ensure safety.

Before the changes, various players in the supply chain could be punished however there did not seem to be consistency in who was issued infringements/charges and punished. Further problems included that members of the supply chain pressured other members to not comply with safety obligations and companies could ‘contract out’ their obligations.

The following roles are examples of those who are involved in the transport supply chain. As can be seen the net is wide –

-loading manager, -loader/unloader, -packer

-consignee/consignor

-operator

-scheduler

-employer

-executive officer

-prime contractor

-if you own premises where 5 or more heavy vehicles unload or load each day.

Often legislative amendments can be ambiguous and difficult to understand. However, these amendments, and the corresponding obligations are currently the subject of an intensive education campaign by the NHVR and, in NSW, the RMS.

The goal is safety.

HOW TO FIND OUT INFORMATION EASILY:

* There is a helpful CoR checklist regarding who are involved in the transport supply chain on the NHVR website (nhvr.gov.au)

* There are a series of short helpful seminars on the NHVR website.

* There is a CoR ‘gap assessment tool’ on the website by which you can answer questions both to assist you to determine your role and where you are deficient in your business practices and systems etc. – you are issued with a list of recommendations to assist you to strengthen your ‘compliance and safety management responsibilities’.

* You should look at your own industry codes of practice.

* The Crane, Forestry and Livestock industries already have Codes unique to their particular industry and how interactions occur with the NHVL – eg specifically what is carted; how it is loaded/unloaded; how cranes are designed.

* National Roads have issued an information package – ‘Safety Management in the Chain of Responsibility’.

* The Australian Standard ISO13000 relation to Australian industry risk management generally is obviously instructive.

* The NHVR portal has established a free service for those who have fleet to be able to check and monitor registration currency and other details.

Watch this space for commentary on how the amendments unfold and further developments including a ‘Master Code’ of practice for the transport industry which is currently being developed.